Facebook Messenger: Unsending Messages on Facebook

Facebook Messenger: Unsending Messages on Facebook

Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service that was introduced in 2011 to replace Facebook Chat. You can use Messenger without a Facebook account, so it’s available to people who haven’t signed up for Facebook or who have closed their Facebook accounts. Messenger allows you to respond to messages from both the website and the app. But what if you accidentally send the wrong message and want to undo it?

Let us walk you through the steps of permanently unsending a Facebook Messenger message. You can remove the message from your own chat history or from the chat history of everyone else.

Unsend Facebook Messages in a Browser

Go to the message you want to rescind from Facebook on the web, and then do the following:

Remove facebook messenger
  1. Select More (three dots), and then select Remove.
  2. Select Unsend for everyone to remove the comment from the conversation, and then select Remove.
  3. Select Okay to confirm.
  4. The text you sent has vanished, and in its place is a bubble that says, “You unsent a message,” which is visible to all participants.
you unsent message

Remember that when Facebook first introduced the unsend feature for Messenger, users had 10 minutes to remove a message. However, Facebook removed this restriction, and you can now remove messages at any time.

Unsend Messages in Facebook Messenger App

The process for unsending a message sent from the app is the same whether you have an Android or an iPhone. Follow these steps:

facebook messenger unsend
  1. Tap and hold the message you want to unsend.
  2. Select More.
  3. Tap Unsend.
  4. Choose Unsend for Everyone to remove the message from all chat participants’ threads. Alternatively, tap Unsend for You to remove it from your chat but leave it on other participants’ threads.
  5. Select OK to confirm.
  6. Everyone in the conversation can see “You unsent a message” in place of the item you unsent.
tap on unsend

You should be aware that if you use a messaging app that integrates with Facebook other than Facebook Messenger, the unsend feature may not be available. 

Why Would You Want to Unsend Facebook Messages?

Imagine you sent a message that you immediately regretted or that you unintentionally sent a personal message to the incorrect person. Up until last year, Facebook messages could not be unsent or removed from the recipient’s inbox. You can now retract any messages you sent to an individual or group of individuals, including words, GIFs, emojis, and other content.

Also : The Best Ways To Catch And Stop Facebook Stalkers

Can Facebook users still view unsent messages?

Unsending a message removes it from the conversation, which may cause it to vanish before the intended recipient even sees it. But if the message was sent some time ago, it’s very likely that they have already seen it. The recipient will be able to see that you have unsent a message.

Facebook administrators can view unsent messages for 14 days after they’re unsent as part of its effort to stop cyberbullying in case a message is reported for breaking the rules. To report the conversation, tap the person’s name, scroll down, and tap Report.

Here’s how to find your archived messages in Facebook Messenger or undo the action if you’ve archived a message and are unsure where to find it.

  1. Open the Messenger app and tap your profile picture
  2. Select Archived chats
  3. If you want to un-archive a chat, swipe left on it and tap Unarchive
  4. Tap More to mark it as unread, restrict it, delete it, or block the sender.

You can also delete messages in Facebook Messenger by following these steps.

To delete messages on Facebook Messenger in a browser: 

  1. Launch Facebook, select the Messenger icon > See All in Messenger
  2. Select a message, hover the cursor over it, and select More (three dots) > Remove

In the Messenger app:

  1. Tap and hold a message 
  2. Tap Remove.

Remember that there isn’t an official way to retrieve deleted Facebook Messenger messages, but you can see if they were archived rather than deleted by performing a quick check. If you want to check if the deleted messages are still there, you can download your Facebook data. (Go to the settings section of your Messenger account and choose Download Profile Information.)